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Kazakh National Carpets
 There are many types of Kazakh felt and woven carpets. They may be divided into several groups according to such criteria as the method of manufacture, technique, ornamentation, colour and so on.
Different floor and wall carpets - tekemets, sirmaks, and tuskiizs - were made from felt. Tekemet is made in the following way. Usually, figured patterns from wet coloured felt are applied to white half-ready felt. Then the material is stretched and steamed. During these processes patterns are pressed in the material.
Another type of a felt carpet -sirmak is made from two cut figured patterns of white or black felt. Durability of the article is achieved by means of stitching a pattern layer through the lining. Another kind of sirmak is a felt carpet bitpes. The name bitpes means impossible to make, which suggests how complicated the character of ornament is. Tekemet and sirmak are floor carpets. Tuskiiz is a wall felt carpet. Many-patterned figures (from felt, cloth, less often from silk or cotton cloth) are stitched to white felt. Embroidered carpets from plis, velvet, silk and other fabrics are also called tuskiizs. Kazakhs also have mosaic carpets made from fabric patches. They are laid on the floor for guests to sit on (mosaic technique).
 Application is one of the most ancient techniques of pattern making. It is done by way of application of ornamental figures from different colour fabric pieces, leather or brightly different shades of colour painted felts. Researchers stress that application is the most basic and ancient technique of the steppe tribes' art. It has been practiced since ancient times and has been preserved until our days. Felt pieces of cloth with applications - carpets from Noin Uli found in Pazarik kurgan are evidence of this.
The most beautiful felt mats - tuskiiz are made in Northern regions of Kazakhstan, especially in Bayanaul and Karkarala regions, as well as on the Irtysh river. In the exposition of the Central State Museum of Carpets (CAMC) you can see a large wall carpet of thin felt with cloth applications made by the folk artist N.Balybayeva. It has been displayed at many international exhibitions. Embroidered carpets are also called tuskiiz. They used to be made of velveteen, velvet, silk and other textiles. Decoration patterns contain large medallions - rosettes, garlands, flowers, buds, peacock plumes and so on. The colors used are varied: scarlet, crimson, orange, yellow, green, blue, dark brown, white and so on. Flowers and garlands used to be embroidered with golden threads. Wall carpets were embroidered in chain-stitch and with tightly stranded silk threads. The Kazakhs embroidered not only large carpets, but small carpets for covering camels - asmaldyk, saddle cloths and horse cloths - jamchi, covers for trunks, bedcovers, curtains, bed curtains, pillow cases, and towels. These items used to be embroidered by heart shaped figures and plant patterns. S.B. Bronevsky, who lived among the Kazakhs and studied their life style, noted that Kazakh girls were very industrious, embroidering diligently and artfully.
Lots of silk wall carpets and items belonging to the 18 th and 19 th cc are presently kept in museums of St. Petersburg, Moscow and Almaty. Two small carpets stand apart among them. They are made of silk textile with white chain stitched flowers and other decorative patterns implemented in one style. (Collection of the State Museum of Ethnography - SME). Obviously, they were made by one and the same craftswoman.
 S.M.Dudin took lots of pictures of silk carpets in Pavlodar and Semipalatinsk regions, as well as in Syr Darya and Aukiye-Ata (presently Jambul region) provinces in 1890-1894. Kazakhs used to have mosaic carpets made of scraps of different textiles. The scraps used to be cut in the shape of rhombs, squares, and triangles. These carpets were very beautiful. Kazakh women still decorate the upper side of light mattresses - turak korpeshe , which are placed on the floor for the guests to sit on. Despite different techniques used (applications, mosaics) all felt and embroidered carpets can be regarded as monotype carpets. Their center is divided into a square grid in which the crosspieces with double ringlets of sheep horns are painted. The composition has one or two symmetrical axes, the size of the background and the patterns being almost similar. A similar composition is kept in the fleecy and textile carpets.
All carpets are manufactured using very simple vertical and horizontal devices - ormek. There are pictures of a loom and yarn taken in Kazakhstan in the mid of 19 th c and displayed at the Omsk exhibition in 1868. Among the ancient Kazakh carpets fleeceless carpets named alasha are well known. The stripes of 30-40 centimeters are weaved on narrow gauge devices and decorated either with a pattern or with vertical stripes of white, blue, yellow and brown colors. After that the stripes are attached to each other making a panel sized 2x4 meters. They also used to be weaved in wide decorated stripes up to 2 meters. Kazakhs name this kind of fleeceless carpets takyr kilem. In the central part rows of squares with similar patterns are placed. The colors used are: red and crimson for the background, and white, blue, yellow and brown for the patterns. The borders contain rows of zigzag stripes, the pattern of a bird footprint, heel and the sign 8. It is noteworthy that the central field in South Kazakhstan's fleeceless carpets is similar to the ones in fleecy carpets: octagons with cross-pieces in which the pattern of sheep horns and the brand of the Kungrat tribe is inscribed.
 Fleecyless carpets of the nayman tribe are made in the form of a plane cloth with a relief pattern of the their brand. In general the fleecyless carpets are decorated with the rows of the cross-pieces and the ringlets in the form of sheep horns. These ringlets are conventionalized and have the form of geometrical figures. The borders have zigzag lines or rows of the ancient sign of 5. The main colors are dark red, crimson, yellow, white, and blue. Kazakhs highly valued the fleecy carpets, which were considered the most expensive and valuable things in the bride's dowry. Like other Central Asian and Caucasian people the Kazakhs named fleecy carpet kilem . The richest and largest thick carpet is called orda kilem . Such kinds of carpets were used by rich people in the Middle Ages. Ten meters long and 6 meters wide, an ancient carpet made by a craftswomen from Akmola was displayed at the exhibition of the Third Congress of orienatlists in St. Petersburg. Very large carpets are named koly kilem.
A folk epos “Kambar” contains a description of the masaty kilem carpets, very similar to the Tekin carpets. In the book “Carpets of Central Asia” S.M. Dudin wrote about the similarities of Kazakh carpets to the Turkmen and Uzbek ones. He stressed that it was mainly seen in the equilibrium of the background and the patterns, and in the similar design of both and the fact that they are absolutely the same size. The equilibrium of the background and the pattern differs in Central Asian carpets from those of Iran.  Compositions of Central Asian and Kazakh carpets consist of octagons, hexagons, and oblong rhombs with the cross-piece of four pairs of sheep horns. The use of one and the same pattern varies artfully in the carpets not violating the harmony or the essence of the whole composition. The motives are often repeated in Kazakh carpets. The border is very often the same: it consists of stripes, rhombs, herring-bone heel-type angles - okshe , the pattern of a bird's wing - kus kanat, a flying hawk, a row of cranes - tyrna , rows of zigzag stripes and conventionalized images of sheep and goats. All these elements are met in the patterns of the Turkmen - a nation ethnically related to the Kazakhs. Common motives of Kazakh and Turkmen carpets obviously appeared in Syrdarya in the period of the ascendancy of the Oguz and Kypchak tribes. Since those times some folk legends similar for both Turkmen and Kazakhs have been preserved.
S.M.Dudin wrote that Kazakh, Uzbek and Turkmen carpets had “similar elements and pattern motives, ways of composition, colorful combinations and dominating colors”. In Kazakh carpets the patterns in the form of rosettes placed along the axis are repeated rhythmically. The row very often consists of four rosettes placed along the whole middle strip of the carpet in a square or rhombic shape. A cross-piece with the pattern of a sheep horn is inscribed in wide or oblong octagons, squares and rhombs. Very often the rosettes in the form of octagonal stars surrounded with the heel pattern - synar okshe - are used. The most widespread kind of rosette used in the central field of the fleecy carpets is a large cross-piece inscribed into two concentric rectangles, surrounded from the outside with the ringlets of sheep horns turning into the heel motive - synar okshe . Various patterns and images are used in the compositions of the fleecy carpets. Among them are: mountains, trees, planes, nine hills motives, water falls, canals, domes of ancient constructions, images of the sun and the moon, wild animals, birds, hunting scenes, camel caravans, etc. You can see the footprints of birds, gorses, camels, sheep horns, flying hawks etc. Conventionalized or realistic images of animals, landscapes and separate topics are specific to the Kazakh and Turkmen carpets. The border pattern in the carpets is called oyu , the border between the figures - aragul , the motive jurgem tor - is a braid or a cord pattern. The borders usually consist of four-five narrow and wide stripes. In the narrow ones bird footprint patterns are used, as well as the jagged lines, curves - sheykakynar moyun , and heel - synar okshe.
 The motives of graduated rhombs, as well as pairs of sheep horns or double ringlets placed in rows are used for wide stripes. They are also used in the center of the felt carpets. The horsecloths, sacks, door curtains for the yurt, saddle bags, and ribbons for the decoration of the yurts were also made of fleecy and fleeceless carpet cloth. For the first time the Kazakh woolen fleecy carpets, along with Turkmen ones, were displayed in Merve in 1910. Those carpets attracted the attention of a famous researcher N.F.Burdukov, who wrote about the carpet making that had been developed among the Kyrgyz people within the Turkestan area: “The Kyrgyz carpets are made in Tashkent and other regions of Syrdarya province. In the background we see two specific colors: crimson and blue. The cutting and the colours of these carpets are very good” At the end of 19 th c, he described and collected Turkmen, Kazakh and Uzbek carpets. These materials are now kept in the archives of the country. The most valuable Kazakh fleecy carpets are kept in the SME and State Historical Museum. Among them is an original and unique carpet of the 17 th c. The central field is filled with an octagon divided into three segments, and subdivided by white and black lines. Inside the octagon a small square is inscribed as well as the conventionalized images of the trees and leaves. The border consists of stripes, two of which have signs of 5 and the wider one having conventionalized ringlets, squares and crosspieces. Fleecy and fleeceless carpets are still manufactured in some regions of Kazakhstan, mainly in South of the country.
At present, in some regions of Kazakhstan, especially in the south, fleecy and fleeceless carpets as well as other traditional crafts are preserved.
ALL PHOTO MATERIALS WERE PRESENTED BY WWW.BUKHARA-CARPETS.COM
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